Silent Knife (A Celebration Bay Mystery)

by Freydont, Shelley

  “I don’t guess Grace Thornsby got huffy and decided to close that eyesore.”

  “No,” said Liv. “But we did tell her she must comply with the town’s ordinances.”

  “That’s something, I guess. I know it’s not very charitable of me to feel this way, but I just don’t think half-naked hula girls are in keeping with the spirit of a Celebration Bay Christmas. And it’s driving Fred crazy.” Dolly smiled. “He’s so concerned about the children growing old too soon.”

  Liv knew Dolly and Fred had one son who lived in New York City whom she’d never seen. He was a big corporate executive, and somehow Liv couldn’t imagine that he had much in common with his parents, both good-natured, always ready to volunteer, and content with each other and with their way of life. To Liv, they were the perfect couple.

  “I couldn’t agree with you more.” Liv took the bag of cookies. “Hopefully, we can find a permanent business, one without hula girls, to take over the space when TAT leaves.”

  “I just wish the Newlands could have hung on a little longer. Since you’ve been here, business has already started to climb.”

  “Thank you, Dolly. But the town just needed some organization and efficiency.”

  They said good-bye and stopped next door at the Buttercup Coffee Exchange.

  “Saw you pass by,” BeBe Ford told them. BeBe was about Liv’s age, with lush curves and a dry wit, and was still considered a newcomer even after living in Celebration Bay for twelve years. If Liv had a best friend in town, it was BeBe.

  “Figured you wouldn’t stop by Dolly’s for pastry without stopping here, too.”

  “Wouldn’t think of it,” Ted said, reaching for the cardboard tray with their tea and coffee.

  “Did you get rid of the Rat from TAT yet?”

  “Not completely,” Liv said, trying not to laugh. “But we told her she had to deep-six the Santa.”

  “That’s a start,” BeBe said. “Why on earth would a woman like that want to run a Christmas store?”

  “That’s the question of the day.” And Liv didn’t have a clue.

  *

  “I’m not liking this situation at all,” Liv said as she and Ted walked back to the office. “You don’t think anything bad will happen, do you?” She fervently hoped that Christmas wouldn’t be a repeat of the recent Harvest by the Bay Festival that had plunged the whole town into suspicion, intrigue, and finally, murder. Fortunately, not many people were aware of the events of the Turkey Trot.

  “Nothing would surprise me,” Ted said.

  “That’s pretty jaded coming from you.”

  “A side of me that only you see.”

  “And how did you learn to be so jaded?” she asked. “In the big city, like me?”

  “In the school of life.” He took her elbow as they crossed the street.

  Liv knew when to quit. She’d learned what she needed to know to stay on top of the current situation, and she had to be content with that. No matter how subtly she tried, in the months she’d worked with Ted, she’d learned everything she needed to know about the town and its inhabitants, but she’d never learned much about him.

  In Liv’s former life as event planner to the movers and shakers of New York City, she’d gotten to know way too much about her clients and coworkers. There was something nice about working with someone whose life wasn’t an open book. She had to admit, however, she’d like to get just a little peek.

  They spent the rest of the afternoon finalizing plans for the parade, checking with Fred about the parking situation, and making sure the trolleys they’d hired for transporting visitors to and from perimeter parking lots were clean and properly decorated.

  Ted called each store owner, including Grace Thornsby, with a reminder of the Celebration of Lights the following evening. The last week had been a flurry of activity as businesses trimmed their windows in white lights that would be turned on simultaneously with the tree lighting. Even the few empty storefronts had been decorated and would have someone to throw the lights on cue.

  Liv hung up from talking to the head of the new security firm she’d hired for crowd control. “I’m getting excited,” she called out to Ted, who was whistling along with Mannheim Steamroller on the radio.

  “Yeah, wear something red and green tomorrow and prove it.”

  “I will.” Now that the situation with the TAT Santa had been dealt with, Liv was ready to enjoy a little Christmas cheer herself.

  She left the office at four forty-five, which would give her just enough time to pick up Whiskey at the Woofery. Sharise was just closing when Liv arrived.

  “Sorry, am I late?”

  “Not at all. Just getting ready to run out when the clock strikes. A million things to do before tomorrow.”

  Liv wrote out a check for the bath and brush-out.

  Sharise took the check and slipped it into a drawer. “He looks good as new. I’ll just go get him.”

  When she returned a few minutes later, a white and fluffy Westie terrier was prancing alongside her, a bright red bow tie around his neck.

  “Don’t you look debonair,” Liv said as much to Sharise as to Whiskey, who immediately began dancing at her feet. The bow tie would last two seconds after they left, Liv thought. Whiskey had hated every sweater, grooming accessory, or Halloween costume she’d attempted to put on him.

  “He’s just cute as a button,” Sharise said. “And so handsome—yes, you are.” She leaned over and adjusted the tie, which was already sitting askew in his fur.

  “He is. Let’s just hope he stays this way for a few days,” Liv agreed and said good night.

  Whiskey trotted happily next to her. Even though it was cold, he didn’t seem to mind, and he absolutely stopped to preen whenever they passed someone on their way home.

  “You are such a show-off,” she told him.

  As soon as she got home, she took off his bow tie and went into the kitchen to feed her dog and herself; then they both curled up on the couch with a doggie treat, a bowl of popcorn, and the television remote. One of the channels had started its twenty-five-days-of-Christmas movies, and Liv watched as she ate popcorn and wrote last-minute notes to herself on a yellow legal pad. She took herself to bed, feeling as excited as a kid waiting for Santa.

  *

  The sun was barely up when Liv rolled out of bed the next morning. She’d slept like a log in spite of it being her first Christmas in Celebration Bay. She planned to spend the day making final checks of everything she and Ted had checked the day before. Timing was everything in coordinating successful simultaneous events, and the citizens of Celebration Bay had packed a lot of stuff into a very few minutes.

  She fed Whiskey and let him out for a run in the Zimmerman sisters’ backyard. It had snowed again during the night, and she watched from the door as he disappeared into a drift of snow and reappeared a second later shaking off fresh snow and chasing his tail.

  So much for his brush-out. But it didn’t matter. She had one happy dog. She was pretty happy herself. “Five minutes,” she said and waited until that intrepid Westie plowed a path through the snow, no doubt heading for the Zimmermans’ back door, where he hoped to get a treat.

  Liv quickly dressed in sweater, jacket, scarf, hat, and gloves, and after adding a pair of moccasins to her canvas carryall, she sat down to pull on her snow boots. She heard a bark at the door and hopped on one foot to open it. Whiskey shot in, shook a few times, took one look at her boots, and dashed into the bedroom.

  He returned two seconds later, his red bow tie held delicately between his teeth.

  “Well, this is a first,” Liv told him. She really shouldn’t take him to work with her. Today was bound to be hectic. But he looked so pleased with himself that she didn’t have the heart to leave him at home.

  He dropped the bow tie at her feet and she caved. “All right, but you have to keep a low profile today. I’m going to be very busy.” She clipped the bow tie around his neck and Velcro’ed the plaid doggie sweater s
he’d bought him for cold weather. He immediately tried to bite it off.

  “I bet if Sharise had put it on you, you’d wear it,” Liv said and took it off again. She added it to her carryall in case the temperature dropped even more.

  Liv liked Christmas with its music and smells and food and lights and decorations. But it was her busiest time of the year, and she spent the season juggling events and seeing they all ran smoothly, so that by the time she was ready to sit back and enjoy the festivities, they were over.

  This year she planned to have some fun. After tonight’s big celebration, the activities would be run individually, like the reindeer corral at Dexter’s Nursery, the Messiah sing-along at the Presbyterian church, the inn’s Dickens Dinner, the Tour of Homes, and Breakfast with Santa, which was run by the Jaycees. And of course, shopping and dining from dawn until midnight.

  Once the lights were lit and Santa was ensconced on his throne in the chalet on the green, Liv’s job would pretty much be done.

  The thought of Santa reminded her to check in at the Trim a Tree shop and make sure there was no Santa in residence.

  She grabbed a banana, a nod to healthy eating since stopping by Dolly’s for breakfast had become a way of life and her daily run had been seriously curtailed by several feet of snow. She gathered up her legal pad and laptop, clipped on Whiskey’s leash, and headed to town.

  It took Liv extra time to get to work since everybody was out shoveling or blowing snow, and they all stopped to say hello or call out holiday greetings. Dolly’s, which was usually quiet this early in the morning, was crammed with people, and there was a line at the Buttercup. Everyone was talking and excited about the evening’s events, discussing the best way to make sure all their lights came on at once, reminding each other not to use chasing or blinking lights.

  There was a festive mood in the air even though it was way too cold for Liv’s taste. Whiskey got an extra treat from Dolly, who had begun making specialty dog biscuits, which Sharise sold from the Woofery.

  Liv hurried down the sidewalk, thinking of her nice double-shot latte growing cold in the frigid morning. Several times she had to slow down for Whiskey to show off his bow tie. She stopped to peer in the window of Trim a Tree. It was dark inside, and she couldn’t tell if the North Pole niche had been taken down. She made a mental note to check as soon as the store opened. If Santa was still there, she’d have to call Bill Gunnison to have Grace or the Santa, or both, evicted.

  Fortunately, the sheriff, who suffered from sciatica, was standing tall these days, and Liv crossed metaphorical fingers that he would stay that way through the holidays. Even with the new security force she’d hired, she depended on Bill for crowd control and safety issues.

  She climbed the town hall steps, and balancing pastries, coffee, and Whiskey’s leash, she opened the door and entered the building in a swirl of windblown snow. She was attempting to turn the knob of the office door when it opened.

  Ted was dressed in a green button-down shirt and a Santa tie beneath a fire-engine-red vest. He leaned over and patted his knees.

  Well trained by her dog and her assistant, Liv dropped Whiskey’s leash.

  Whiskey darted over to rest his paws on Ted’s knees while Ted yodeled, “Who’s my favorite daw-aw-awg?”

  “Aroo-roo-roo.”

  “Daw-aw-awg.”

  “Aroo.”

  Ignoring this morning ritual, Liv placed the pastries and tea on Ted’s desk and took her latte and laptop into her office. She sat at her desk as the noise from the outer office changed to a duet of “Aroo-roo-roo, roo-roo-roo . . .”

  Ted was teaching Whiskey to sing “Jingle Bells.”

  *

  The day passed in a blur, with last-minute details to attend to, disasters to be averted, and ruffled feelings to be soothed. By four o’clock, traffic had been diverted and the streets around the square were cordoned off for pedestrians. At six o’clock, Santa’s wagon and two reindeer had arrived from Dexter’s Nursery and Landscaping and were parked in back of the post office where Santa would begin his parade.

  At six forty-five, Liv and Ted were standing with the crowd on the green waiting for the festivities to begin.

  “You’re sure the TAT Santa is gone,” Liv said.

  “Yes, I checked three times today. No Santa, no North Pole sign, no tacky throne. Stop worrying.”

  “Security is in place.”

  “Yes.”

  “And the—”

  “Done.”

  “You don’t know what I was going to say.”

  “Doesn’t matter, it’s done.”

  Liv laughed. “Sorry, but there are so many . . . amateurs involved.”

  “Relax, here comes the choir. I still think you should have brought Whiskey.”

  “And have you two burst into song at the tree lighting? I think he’ll be happy with the Zimmermans. They’re watching from the warmth and comfort of the bakery. I’m sure he’s already stuffed with treats.”

  The singers filed down the park sidewalk toward the risers set up near the tree. They were dressed in red and green and striped elf hats.

  Liv also spotted several members of the security team in the crowd. Feeling easier, she took a breath and turned back to the stage. Next to her, Ted was frowning.

  “What?” she asked, immediately alarmed and automatically switching into action mode.

  He was searching the choir as it climbed the bleachers. “I don’t see Penny Newland.”

  “Maybe she couldn’t get a babysitter.”

  “She lives with her parents. I hope she’s not sick. The Messiah sing-along is next week and she’s one of the soloists.”

  “Do you think Grace is making her work late?”

  “That would be just like her. I have half a mind to—”

  “Look, she’s here.”

  Penny Newland pushed her way through the crowd and joined the end of the line where the choir director was waiting for her with a spare elf hat.

  “Sorry,” Penny huffed. She crammed the hat on the top of her head and hurried past the basses and tenors and altos to squeeze into her place on the risers with the other sopranos.

  “Whew,” Liv said. “One problem solved.”

  But it wasn’t to be the last.

  Several carols later, just as the choir ended “Here We Come A-Wassailing,” Liv’s walkie-talkie buzzed. She moved back in the crowd so she could hear better. “Liv here.”

  “It’s Dex.” Dexter Kent’s voice came over in a burst of breath drowning out the beginning of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” “I’m behind the post office with the wagon and the reindeer, but Hank isn’t here. And the wagon is due to start in”—another huff of breath—“three minutes.”

  Liv mouthed a word that was not appropriate for the festive surroundings. “I thought he checked in.”

  “He did. A half hour ago, then he went down to Pyne Bough Gifts where he was going to change into his Santa suit. He uses their stockroom as a base every year. He’s not there and he hasn’t come back here.”

  “I’m on my way.” Liv slipped back to where Ted was standing. “Santa’s AWOL.”

  “No way.”

  “I’m going over there.”

  “I’ll tell the choir to keep singing until we give them the word and I’ll follow you.” Ted took off toward the stage and the unlit tree.

  Liv headed down the path toward the street. She nodded to the sheriff, Bill Gunnison, who was talking to A.K. Pierce, the head of the security agency, while they kept Main Street clear of pedestrians for the parade—if Santa returned in time. She was crossing the street in front of the bookstore when her walkie-talkie crackled.

  “Dex here. Hank’s back. He’s suited up. We’re ready to go.”

  “Thanks. I’ll tell Ted to cue the choir.”

  She radioed Ted the message and hurried back to his side.

  “Nothing but fun and games,” Ted told her as the choir broke into “Here Comes Santa Claus.”


  The crowd turned as one toward the street. One spotlight shone past the bakery, coffee exchange, and stores to catch Hank Ousterhout standing in the back of a wagon driven by Dexter Kent and pulled by two reindeer.

  The crowd broke into applause as Santa waved and threw candy. Dexter stopped the wagon at the curb, and two of his employees ran to hold the reindeer in place while the mayor helped Hank down to the street.

  “Ho, ho, ho!” Hank boomed as he was escorted to the stage where a group of children, wreathed in smiles, awaited him.

  “He’s perfect,” Liv said.

  “Uh-huh,” said Ted.

  Mayor Worley stepped up to the microphone. “Santa has arrived, and he and children from the Celebration Bay Community Center will now light the tree. Let the festivities begin!”

  Santa leaned over the light box, and the children piled their hands on top of his. Hank pulled the switch, and the tree burst into a hundred-foot cone of light. All around the square businesses lit their windows. The choir began to sing “O Tannenbaum.”

  “Oohs” and “ahs” rose in a cloud of amazement. And it was amazing, just a perfect, glorious moment with the towering tree surrounded by a solid ring of light.

  Liv looked again. Almost a solid ring. One store was dark, standing out like a missing tooth in a perfect smile.

  “I’m going to kill her,” Liv said and struck off toward Trim a Tree.

  Chapter Three

  By the time Liv reached the front door to the Trim a Tree shop, the choir was singing “Silent Night” as the crowd began to disperse to one of the free cider stations or into one of the many shops, restaurants, and cafés.

  Liv peered in the TAT window. The store was dark and looked deserted. Only a dim light from the back helped differentiate the cones of artificial trees that clogged the space. Liv knocked on the front door.

  “Anybody in there?” asked Ted, coming up behind her.

  “Doesn’t look like it.”

  “Wait, did something move?” Liv cupped her hands and peered into the window. She knocked again. “Grace, are you in there? I know you’re in there. Come to the door.”